


I Swear I Could Fly

by iheartallthefandoms



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, nouis friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 17:22:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13035861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iheartallthefandoms/pseuds/iheartallthefandoms
Summary: Prompt Fic.Louis is ready to ask his boyfriend THE question at their annual Christmas party.





	I Swear I Could Fly

**Author's Note:**

> This is answering the prompt: "Everything happens for a reason. This is a thing people say. Usually people say it when something goes wrong, but not too wrong. A nonfatal car accident. A sprained ankle instead of a broken one." from The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. It is a LOOSE interpretation. Basically, I took the fact that our boys are destined to be together and made that into a proposal story because I LOVE those!!
> 
> Thanks to my beta S for reading over this... and then I wrote more/changed stuff after. So all mistakes are mine!
> 
> This is part of my Nano-works from this year! Enjoy!
> 
> Title is from Everytime We Touch by Cascada.

“Cause everytime we touch, I get this feeling, and everytime we kiss I swear I could fly,” Louis sang as he danced around his flat, doing more singing than dancing. He was supposed to be getting ready for their annual pre-Christmas Christmas party, but the perfect songs kept coming on his Pandora station, so he just kept dancing.

He and Harry had been co-hosting these parties ever since they first started dating three and a half-ish years ago. They could be a bitch to put together, but nothing made his boy happier than hosting all of their closest friends and family for this epic Christmas party. Plus, Louis had plans for this year. Plans that were metaphorically burning a hole in his pocket… or his sock drawer, where the key to said plans was hidden.

Speaking of his boy, Harry was going to be home from work in like an hour and Louis hadn’t really cleaned anything. Well, except the parts of the hardwood floor he had slid across earlier in his socks. He shook his head, smiling. At least he had made a good Tom Cruise impression. But he had basically done nothing.

He really needed to get better at cleaning. He switched his Pandora station to some techno babble that didn’t have words so he could dance, but not get distracted by singing along (or having to look up the lyrics).

Almost an hour later, the bathroom was cleaned, the living room was straightened and dusted, and the living room rug was vacuumed. He had not touched their bedroom, and had barely started in the kitchen, but hey, he wasn’t perfect. The party wasn’t for another few days, so he was ahead of schedule. He’d probably have to dust again before then anyway.

“Babe?” a voice called as Louis was putting the cleaning supplies back in the hall closet.

“In here!” Louis yelled. “Just putting these,” he lowered his voice as arms wrapped around his waist from behind, “cleaning things away.” He straightened up and turned around to properly hug his boyfriend.

“You actually cleaned today?” Harry said, trying to hide the amazement from his voice. He wasn’t successful.

“Oi! I resent that!” He wasn’t really mad. Harry clearly knew him pretty well, enough to guess that he hadn’t spent the whole day cleaning.

Harry grinned, “Oh you do, do you?” Harry bent down to give Louis a kiss.

“Now that was the welcome I was expecting,” Louis said as he pulled back from his boyfriend. “Missed you, love.”

“You were home by yourself for one whole day, Lou, you couldn’t have missed me that much.”

“Of course I did, it’s my first day of winter break. I spent it pining over my missing boyfriend and had to spend part of it cleaning. Ugh.” Louis said, spreading the drama on thick.

“Well, only another day of work for me, then I can join you on holiday. My favorite part of the year!” Harry cheered. Harry worked at the local elementary school, and their break for the Christmas holidays started two days after the high school’s break, since the fact that the high schoolers had finals to take gave them an extra two days of break time. It was kind of weird, but since Louis was an English and Drama teacher for the high school, he was not about to complain.

The school district was actually the reason Louis and Harry met. They both were brand new teachers the same year, and they met in new teacher training. It was probably one of the few trainings they would get where teachers of all levels got to meet together. But, as Harry is always fond of saying, everything happens for a reason. It must have been fate that brought them together. For once in his life, Louis was inclined to agree.

The two made their way into the kitchen, and Louis asked dubiously, “You think Christmas Break is better than summer?” 

“I don’t know, it’s pretty far up there. There’s just something special about Christmas time and winter snow and presents and someone special’s birthday,” Harry teased. “Christmas break is pretty awesome.”

“Well, if you’re going to describe it like that, I pretty much have to agree, right, love?” Harry nodded, and Louis pecked him on the cheek. “So, what are we having for dinner, Haz?”

They made dinner together and Harry entertained his boyfriend with tales of adorable kindergarteners. Later that night, Harry and Louis were getting ready for bed. “What do we have left to do for the party?” Louis asked.

“I have to go pick up the food on the day of, and we have to do a bit more cleaning, but I think almost everything else is ready.”

“How about decorations? Do you think we’ll have everything ready in time or do you want me to start decorating tomorrow morning?”

“I think it will be ok if we wait until after school tomorrow,” Harry said. “I don’t want to miss out on decorating the tree.”

“Alright, love, then I will spend my day doing non-party things, like binging on Netflix or whatever.”

“As long as you don’t watch and delete all of the Christmas Hallmark movies I have recorded, it sounds good to me,” Harry said.

“I would never!” Louis gasps, leaning in to steal a kiss from his boyfriend.

“Says the liar who did it last Christmas!”

“On accident! And then I found the movie on DVD and gave it to you as a late Christmas present. And you loved it.”

“Ok, you have me there,” Harry said, smiling. “Can’t be mad at the love of my life forever, can I?”

“No, you can’t.” Louis responded. “Ready for lights out?”

“Yeah,” Harry said, turning his lamp off. “Unless you wanna read for a while, then I can join you.”

“You need to rest up for your class party tomorrow, I’ll skip the book tonight.” Louis rolled over to switch his bedside lamp off. Turning back to Harry, he gave his boyfriend a sweet kiss. In just a few days, this gorgeous man would hopefully be saying yes to a very important question.

***  
The day of the party, both Harry and Louis were a bundle of nerves. They had woken up to a light blanket of snow over the city. They had been expecting it, since the weathermen had been talking about it all week, but it still might change some of their party. Friends might decide to not chance it, or someone could slip and fall, or the power could go out, or some other random mishap could happen. Add those nerves to Louis’ anxiousness about his plans for the evening, and he was just a nervous ball of energy.

“Ok, do we have everything we need?” Harry asked, running his hand through his hair.

“I think, but we should check the list. Where did that end up again?” Louis wondered, hoping his boyfriend knew the location of that list. It had everything on it.

“It’s on the fridge.” They both headed to the kitchen.

“Ok, ok, here we go. How bout I’ll read it and we can check off the things we have done already?” Louis asked.

“Sure.”

 

“Cleaned bathrooms?”

“Yep.”

“Cleaned kitchen?”

“Almost done, we can finish the rest right before the party. We still have some food to put together and lunch to eat today.”

“Ok, next is vacuum.”

“Done yesterday.”

“Make cookies and decorate.” Louis smiled. This was one of his favorite pre-party tasks because he always got to sneak a cookie.

“We will have to finish decorating after lunch. The last batch is still cooling.”

They continued down the list, realizing that they did actually have almost everything ready for the party. Most of what was left had to do with food preparation, and they couldn’t get that done until it was closer to party time. Guests were scheduled to arrive at seven, and it was only 10:30. They had a long few hours of waiting ahead of them still.

When it was finally 6:30, Louis heard a knock at the door.

“That better be fucking Niall to set up the music,” Harry called from the bedroom. He was still getting dressed, but Louis understood the aggravation. Niall was supposed to get there at 6:00.

“Don’t worry, babe,” Louis replied. “I’ll handle it.” He hurried to the door, not wanting to aggravate his neighbors while whoever was at the door kept knocking. 

“LOU-EE!” cried a loud Irish man, as Louis opened the door.

“Nialler!” Louis responded, not quite as loud. “Bout damn time you showed up.”

“Yeah, well, it bloody snowed this morning. Traffic was a bit of a bitch.” Niall unwound his green and blue scarf, handing a cardboard box to Louis. He had a large bag with him and he set it ever so gently on the ground so he could shrug out of his heavy winter coat.

“Like you drove,” Louis scoffed.

“Never said I did, just that traffic was a bitch. It’s almost worse to Uber in traffic than drive in it yourself!” Niall laughed. “Least I’m here now. Where’s your boy?” 

“Still getting ready, you know Harry. There are probably five suits laying across the bed, just begging to be worn. He’s probably tried each of them on six times by now.” Louis laughed.

 

“And are you ready for tonight?” Niall said, winking.

“Fuck, Niall, shut up, he’ll hear you. Why do you have to be so damn loud all the time?”

“Cuz I’m Irish, duh,” Niall laughed. He lowered his voice. “But seriously, can I see it?”

Harry walked into the living room, looking ravishing in a deep red suit. It complemented Louis’ sparkle suit quite nicely. “See what?”

“My epic Christmas carol playlist,” Louis responded, thinking quickly. “I’ve been bragging about it to Niall for weeks and he just can’t wait to see it.”

“Oh good,” Harry said, “Louis just won’t shut up about it. I mean, it’s good, but it’s not like it’s gone platinum.”

“Oh hush you,” Louis pulled Harry into a hug, kissing his cheek. “You love everything I do.”

“Course, babe.”

“Ugh, lovebirds, give me a break.” Niall groaned. “Now that you’re done making out, who is helping me set up the music?”

“Louis!” Harry quickly shouted. “I’ve got food stuff to finish.”

“Fine,” Louis said. “Come on, Nialler, you can set up over here. And shut the fuck up talking to Harry! The whole thing is supposed to be a surprise,” he whispered. “You can't just go blabbing about it anytime you want. I don't want him to find out.” 

“Well, duh, idiot. I'm not going to spill the beans, but it’s a good thing you think quickly. I thought he was going to figure it out earlier.” They set up all of Niall's music paraphernalia, which really just consisted of an iPad and some speakers. “But really, can I see the ring?”

“If you shut up about it!” Louis said. He got the ring out of his pocket, where he had been keeping it. He was afraid to keep it in the box, because then it would look lumpy in his pocket. But, he was also terrified that he was going to lose the ring, so he kept checking his pocket every five seconds.

“Wow, Lou! I am not a jewelry guy, but that is one gorgeous fucking ring. Harry is going to freak the fuck out!”

Louis shoved the ring back into his pocket. “Thanks. I really do hope he loves it. They headed into the kitchen, where Harry was pulling trays of food out of the refrigerator and arranging them on the kitchen counters and the dining room table. Most of it was snack food, but if you really tried, you could make a dinner out of it.

“Babe, can you take these bowls of chips and candy out to the living room?” Harry asked.

“Of course, love. And don't be afraid to put Nialler to work too.” Louis said picking up a few of the bowls Harry had pointed out. 

“I was planning on it!” Harry called after him.

At seven o’clock on the dot, a knock sounded at their flat’s door. Punctual as always, Liam Payne was on the other side of the door. He was hand in hand with his fiancee, Sophia Smith.

After that, it was a steady stream of friends and family. Everyone was red cheeked and a little damp thanks to the snow, but they were all in high spirits. Most of them brought a wrapped gift for the white elephant exchange, and some brought food or alcohol to share. 

Harry was his normal charming self, flitting around from group to group, talking to everyone. He made sure to stop at wherever Louis was to give him a kiss on the cheek or an arm wrapped around his waist, or quickly join into the conversation. This party was Harry's time to shine. He got to be the social butterfly he loved to be, matching the tattoo that stretched across his stomach.

Niall’s music livened up the party, without being too distracting. It really was the perfect backdrop. Louis spent part of his time talking to his mom and sisters. They knew about his plan for the evening, and he was engaging in some much-needed moral support. He knew he and Harry were it for each other and that Harry was going to say yes tonight, but it was still nerve-racking all the same to propose in front of all of your closest friends and family. 

Right around 9:30, Harry announced that the white elephant gift exchange would be happening in the next five minutes. “Anyone wanting to join the festivities needs to grab your white elephant present and head to the dining room.” Any food that had been placed on the dining room had been moved into the kitchen as people ate and more counter space became available.

“Louis, love,” Harry said once everyone got seated and settled. There were fifteen people playing. Some years they had more or less participants, since it was an optional part of the evening. Each person participating had placed their white elephant gift into a basket at the head of the table when they had arrived at the party. “Would you like to explain the rules to everyone?”

“Sure!” Louis responded. “Rules are like this. Everyone will grab a numbered chip from the white bucket.” He pulled a small bucket from underneath his seat. “Then, the first player will select a gift from the basket and open it. You have to make sure everyone can see the gift. The next person can choose to either pick an unwrapped gift from the basket or steal a previous player’s gift. Anyone who gets their gift stolen in this way can do the same – you either choose a new gift or steal from someone else.” 

Louis paused and took a sip of his wine. “Obviously, there are a couple of limits on gift swapping. A present can only be stolen once per turn, which means players who have a gift stolen from them have to wait to get it back. After three swaps, the turn automatically comes to an end (otherwise things could drag on for a long time). Does everybody understand?” (Rules from https://www.whiteelephantrules.com) Heads nodded around the table.

“Thanks, love,” Harry smiled and blew a kiss to his boyfriend. Louis started passing the white bucket around the table, making sure everyone who was playing got a chip with a number on it. When the bucket got back to him, he took a number too.

“Alright, player number one, pick your present.”

Niall was the first person to go. He picked a bright pink rectangular present. Inside were six pairs of fuzzy socks in various colors. “Perfect!” he said. “My feet are always cold.”

Sophia went next and chose to open her own present. She discovered a unicorn that made a really ugly face when you squeezed it. Its name was Glinda, according to the tag.

The unicorn was stolen by the third (Gemma) and fourth (Nick) person to go. That meant both Sophia and Gemma got to pick new presents.

The game proceeded with lots of laughter and stolen presents for several minutes. When it was Louis’ turn, at number 10, he stole Harry’s present. It wasn’t even anything he wanted, but it was just the funny part of the game.

At the end of the game, everyone ended up with a present that they were mostly happy with. 

Now that the White Elephant game was over, Louis’ nerves increased ten-fold. He had planned on the big event happening closer to the end of the party, so that they could celebrate with their friends for a while and then celebrate privately. 

The White Elephant participants scattered, moving back to the rest of the party. Not everyone participated, including the kids and Harry and Louis’ parents. Louis went to find his mum. He needed a hug and a few words of support before he completed vibrated out of his skin.

He found her in the kitchen, talking to Harry’s mum, Anne. “Hello, Mums,” he said, giving them both a hug.

“I’ll give you both a moment,” Anne said knowingly. “Good luck tonight, Louis, I know it will all work out how you want it to.” She patted him on the arm as she left the kitchen. Louis was glad she was in on the secret. It made his life easier, for sure.

Once they were alone, Jay pulled Louis back for another hug. “What’s going on, love,” Jay asked. “Getting a bit nervous?” she laughed.

“Just a bit, to be honest,” Louis said, smiling weakly at her. “I mean, I know he’s gonna say yes, but what if he doesn’t? What if he hates that I’m doing it here? What if-”

“Boo,” Louis’ mum cut him off. “Relax. That boy loves you so much. He would never say no to you. And he won’t hate the fact that he will get to say yes with all of his friends and family around to celebrate with him. He’s going to love it because he loves you.” She kept hugging Louis, letting her warmth and motherly wisdom calm him down.

“Thanks, mum,” Louis said. “I definitely needed that.”

“Anytime, my love, anytime. Now go hang out with your friends for a while longer. It will be time for your big moment soon enough. Go blow off some steam.” She shooed Louis from the kitchen causing him to chuckle.

Louis probably had about 20 minutes to kill before he was ready for his big reveal. Wandering out into the living room, he found Niall standing by the music. Luckily, Niall had set up a playlist or 2 or 12 before the party, but he still like to check on the music every once in awhile to make sure it was working. Therefore, you could pretty much always find him near the music. And always with a drink in hand.

“Getting nervous yet mate?” Niall asked Louis.

“When the fuck would I not be nervous?” He asked in response. He lowered his voice to a whisper and leaned closer to Niall. “I'm going to fucking propose to my boyfriend tonight, Niall, of course I'm nervous.”

“Well, dude, you don't really need to be worried. Harry loves you. Of course he's going to fucking say yes.” Niall shook his head in apparent disbelief.

“Well now you sound like my mum,” Louis said exasperatedly. “She pretty much just told me the exact same thing in the kitchen. I know he’s going to say yes, Niall,” he said dramatically, still harshly whispering. He had no clue where Harry was at the moment.

“Smart woman, that mum of yours. Then why the fuck are you freaking out?”

“I'm freaking out because this is going to change everything. I mean, of course he's going to say yes, and I know that because we love each other and we fucking talked about this, but it's still a huge step. I think I'm allowed to be nervous. I don't know why everyone is so confused that I am. It's a big fucking deal, Nialler.”

“Aw, I'm just giving you shit. It's my job as your best friend, obviously.” Niall clapped Louis on the back and smiled widely. “Now get your dance on motherfucker.”

“Alright already,” Louis said. “Don't pressure me so much.”

Niall waved Louis off, back to checking something on his iPad. Louis smiled and pulled a face and turned around. He might as well try to find Harry. He needed to get him to the living room eventually so maybe he could bring him in there early and dance for a while. Maybe that would help with his nerves. 

Louis thought he spotted Harry in the dining room, talking to someone. Walking in, he realized Harry was talking to Gemma.

“Hey, babe,” Harry said as he noticed Louis, who was just standing back, taking in the beauty of his boyfriend.

“Hey love, wanna come dance with me?” Louis wrapped his arms around Harry, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“Always.” Harry smiled and looked back at his sister. “Talk later?”

“Sure, Haz,” Gemma smiled in return.

Harry and Louis walked to the living room. Niall saw them come in and switched the music to something more dance friendly. Frosty the Snowman was not the best song to slow dance to, but the little kids loved it.

“Sorry kids,” Louis heard him say, “Louis made me do it.” Louis stuck his tongue out in Niall’s direction and grabbed his boyfriend.

He twirled Harry around the room a few times, watching him smile and laugh in the twinkling Christmas lights.  
By the time the song ended, Louis thought he was ready. He knew most of the party-goers were either in the living room, dining room, or kitchen at this point, so this was probably the best time to go ahead and do it.

The next song started and Louis looked over at Niall and raised his eyebrows. Niall mouthed back “Now?” and Louis nodded.

Niall cut the music, causing several people to look around confusedly. A few other couples were on the “dance floor” with Louis and Harry and they all stopped dancing.

Louis stepped back from his boyfriend and took a deep breath. “If I could have everyone’s attention please,” he asked in a loud voice. Harry just gave him an odd look. They normally thanked everyone for coming, but not in the middle of a dance and not this early. 

The little bit of murmuring that had started when the music was cut stopped. Enough people knew about his plans that there were smiles around the room, especially from his mum and Harry’s mum, which led others to infer the situation and start smiling too. Luckily (or so Louis though) Harry still just looked confused.

“As always, Harry and I thank you all for coming to our annual Styles-Tomlinson Christmas party. We love having all of you here and love getting to share in the holiday fun with all of our friends and family.” Louis smiled, hugging Harry to his side, and Harry smiled too.

“That being said, the Styles-Tomlinson party will be different next year,” Louis said. Now Harry looked even more confused. Louis reached into his pocket and felt for the ring. He grabbed it and moved a step back from Harry. “At least I hope it will.” He smiled shyly and kneeled down.

“Harry Edward Styles, I am so in love with you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you by my side. Will you marry me?” He could see the tears in his boyfriend’s eyes and wished desperately that Harry would just answer him already. 

“YES! Of course I will!” Louis laughed at the over-excitedness of his now fiancee and slid the ring onto Harry’s waiting finger. Harry grabbed at him and pulled him up into a fierce kiss. They pulled away to the sounds of cheering and clapping from all around.

“Introducing the future Mr. & Mr. Tomlinson!” Niall announced from his spot near the music. Everyone clapped again as Harry and Louis smiled. Immediately their family descended, offering hugs and congratulations, both of their mothers openly crying.

The rest of the party was pretty much a blur, Louis never moving from his fiancee’s side and loving every minute of it.

They celebrated for the rest of the night, both with family & friends and privately. But that's a story for another time.


End file.
